Health district says samples show water in Helper good

A report from one family about illness within that group led officials from Helper and the Southeastern Utah Health District to look closely at the water in Helper on Monday.

"It was a report from one family," said Dr. Claron Bjork of the Health District. "I think if we had a water problem we would have gotten many more calls about people being sick especially since there were a lot of extra people in town last weekend at the Helper Art Festival."

Dave Ariotti, the district engineer for the Department of Environmental Quality said on Tuesday morning that one section of springs in Helper's system a bad test in it last week but that that part of the system was isolated immediately. Officials are working on the reasons for the contamination in those springs. To make up for that volume of water, Helper is getting H20 from Price River Water Improvement District.

"Many things could have contributed to that isolated contamination and we are looking into it," said Ariotti. "But it is shut off from the rest of the system so no water from it is going into the pipes."

The Health District and Helper are continuing to test the water that is coming into the town and so far no bad tests have shown up.

"We take all reports of possible drinking water contamination seriously, as we are with this one," said Ariotti. "There have just been no bad samples taken within Helper City."

Watch the Thursday print edition of the Sun Advocate for more details on this story.